The PA Foundation Reception

The PA Foundation Reception

Updated on: 07/04/2016

A few months ago I was asked to speak at the PA Foundation’s Donor Recognition Breakfast at the 2016 AAPA Conference, which I was eager to accept especially after all that they had done for me in the preceding months. [Insert: I was previously accepted as one of the 18 recipients and the 2015 Bristol-Myers Squibb Endowed Scholarship Recipient]. More on Bristol Myers Squibb here.

I don’t say, ‘Thank You’ often enough for the hard work others put in, but it is definitely deserved. So, ‘thank you’ to everyone at AAPA and the PA Foundation who work tirelessly to ensure that students like myself can achieve their dreams of becoming a PA on top of making other milestones for our profession. Special thanks to Caroline Pierce and Key Ideas for working on my ‘impromptu nonsense of a speech’ and creating this incredible video to promote the PA Foundation Scholarships for future PA students.

Pi Alpha Honor Society

Pi Alpha Honor Society

“Scholarship, Service, Leadership”

Pi Alpha [PAEA, 2015]. 

A membership motion at the October 2003 PAEA (formerly APAP) Education Forum in Phoenix, Arizona is what began the first national honor society for physician assistants. Now known as Pi Alpha, the Society was originally created to recognize PAs and promote “significant academic achievement, leadership, research, and community/professional service; and the encouragement of a high standard of character and conduct among both physician assistant students and graduates.” In only it’s second year in existence, Pi Alpha had 50 chapters established and nearly 300 students, faculty, alumni, and honorary members inducted. Today, there are 87 chapters registered across 33 states, including the District of Columbia. You can click the link to find out if your PA program has an active chapter.

“We established a Pi Alpha chapter because it is not strictly based on academic performance like Alpha Eta or Who’s Who. It recognizes the well rounded student who is committed to serving the community and the program.”

— Patrick Auth, PhD, PA-C

Director, Drexel University Hahnemann PA Program

Requirements for Chapter Membership: